While architects are preparing plans for Hawthorn School District 73’s proposed kindergarten center, administrators and village officials continue to work on a traffic solution.

Conceptual plans for the building were presented to the school board on Oct. 9 and approved 5-2 on Oct. 23, despite some discussion about class sizes. The park board on Oct. 10 also voted favorably, a mandated approval negotiated into the property lease.

“They didn’t have any major concerns, other than the traffic pattern, which was our concern and everybody’s major concern in Vernon Hills,” School Board President Sonali Patil said of the park district’s vote.

The project is designed to provide limited enrollment relief at all of the district’s schools by relocating the kindergarten classes out of each building. The new building will be attached to the Vernon Hills Park District’s Sullivan Center.

With around 350 students and associated staff expected in the kindergarten center, the building’s only traffic access point is the park district’s regular driveway off Aspen Drive. Maps show the kindergarten center would be built on the northeast side of the Sullivan Center and vehicles would need to drive around the building.

Nick Brown, superintendent of Hawthorn 73, said during the Oct. 23 meeting he and the village are attempting to negotiate with a neighboring property owner in hopes of building a connection from the kindergarten center parking lot to Atrium Drive. He said that entry, if built, would be gated and used only for school buses.

Furthermore, Brown said only about 10 percent of students typically get dropped off by parents, while most take buses, which are slower and need more room for turns.

Rick Kambic / Pioneer Press

Michael Brennan, a seventh grade teacher, prepares to stop traffic along Aspen Drive outside Hawthorn Middle School South so that students may cross the street.

Michael Brennan, a seventh grade teacher, prepares to stop traffic along Aspen Drive outside Hawthorn Middle School South so that students may cross the street. (Rick Kambic / Pioneer Press)

Moving those students comes at a time when Aspen Drive Library is looking to build an addition to accommodate growth and shortly after the park district completed an addition and renovations to the Sullivan Center in order to relocate offices and programming out of the Larry Laschen Community Center.

Park board member Cindy Kessler resurrected the traffic topic during an Oct. 26 board meeting, saying she wants to eliminate or reduce the traffic through the Sullivan Center’s entrance.

Jeff Fougerousse, executive director of the park district, sympathized with Kessler. He said he observed troublesome traffic habits at all schools, but especially Townline Elementary, and he hopes to avoid those issues at the Sullivan Center.

“You get people who don’t have to drop their kids off until 8:15 a.m. but are showing up at 7:30 a.m. and they sit in the parking lot with their kids until it’s time,” Fougerousse said. “It’s absolutely crazy.”

The park board briefly explored the possibility of a new road behind the Sullivan Center that would run between Aspen Drive Library and the Victory Centre senior living facility before connecting with Phillips Road.

Fougerousse cautioned the idea, saying there would only be enough land for two lanes and one person stopping to wait for their kids would cause a “log jam.” Furthermore, he said safety could be an issue since the Victory Centre’s parking lot is usually busy and a lot of senior citizens like to walk across that field to the library.

“I guess I’m not trying to solve this, I know there are good people working on it,” Kessler said. “I just wanted to voice my concern and encourage as much as possible to eliminate cars coming through our parking lot.”

Vernon Hills village trustees expressed concerns about increased traffic on Aspen Drive during a meeting earlier this year when they were shown plans of the proposed $42 million schools referendum, which 59 percent of residents later voted against.

Dave Brown, Vernon Hills director of public works, told Pioneer Press that the village is ready to hire a consultant that would develop a new right turn lane from Aspen Drive onto Eastbound Townline Road, but those efforts are on hold pending the school district’s site plan for the kindergarten center.

Building that turn lane would require a permit from the Illinois Department of Transportation because Townline Road is a state highway, Dave Brown said. Getting that permit would take about 12 months, he added.

Any other changes to Aspen Drive, such as widening the road or adding other turn lanes along the stretch, would likely happen only if a new school is built next to the park district’s Family Aquatic Center, according to Dave Brown. The unsuccessful referendum earmarked money to buy the land, but the school board opted to hold onto the land and not to build anything.

A zoning hearing for the kindergarten center has not been scheduled yet.